BOBBILI TALUK.
Bobbili taluk lies inland, not far from the Jeypore hills and to the north-east of Vizianagram. In general appearance it resembles others of the plain taluks of the district. It is watered by the Suvarnamukhi and Végavati, which run in nearly parallel courses across it from west to east. The only place of note in the taluk is its head-quarters —
Bobbili, a town of 17,387 inhabitants. In this some weaving and work in brass and copper are done, but it is principally known as the chief town of the zamindari of the same name and the residence of its Mahárája. This estate pays a peshkash of Rs. 83,652 and land cess amounting to Es. 32,090, or more than any other in the district except Vizianagram.
According to family papers,1[1] the founder of the house was Pedda Ráyudu, fifteenth in descent of the Rájas of Venkatagiri and so a Velama by caste. In 1652 he entered the district in the train of Shéér Muhammad Khán, Faujdar or Nawáb of Chicacole (see p. 30). Another retainer of the Faujdar's was Púsapáti Mádhava Varma, the ancestor of the Vizianagram family, and the rivalry between the two houses dates from this period. For services to the Faujdar, Pedda Ráyudu was eventually granted the Rázám hunda.
His son Lingappa succeeded him, selected Bobbili as his ead-quarters, built a fort there, founded the town, and called it Pedda-puli ('great tiger') out of compliment to the name (Shér, i.e., 'tiger') of the patron of the family. The word was corrupted into Pebbuli and Bebbuli, and at length became Bobbili. A son of his patron, say the family chronicles, was seized, when out shooting, by a rebel at Rangavaka near Palása in Ganjám, and Lingappa rescued him. For this service he was granted twelve villages and the hereditary title of Ranga Rao which all his descendants have since borne.
He was followed by his adopted son Vengal Ranga Rao, and the latter by Rangapati. Rangapati's son Ráyadappa succeeded, and then his adopted son Gópálakrishna. In the time of the
- ↑ 1 See the Mahárája's Account of the Bobbili Zamindari. Addison & Co., Madras, 1900.
